


Steele Trying to Get It Right

by Judy_Peppler



Category: Remington Steele (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-24
Packaged: 2021-03-16 19:08:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 14,205
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29580726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Judy_Peppler/pseuds/Judy_Peppler
Summary: Another attempt to remedy Bonds... imagine all of season 4 was there and instead of Bonds, things had happened this way.
Relationships: Laura Holt/Remington Steele
Comments: 8
Kudos: 21





	1. Chapter 1

It was one of those perfect California mornings with just the right temperature and a beautiful clear sky when the man known to the world as Remington Steele parked his vintage auburn after his morning commute. A commute that only a mere week ago would have been far more pleasurable. But truth be told, today he barely noticed the perfect temperature or the blue sky. He was too tired. Too worried. Too preoccupied with trying to find out how he could prevent his world from falling apart. 

As he walked down the hallway he paused for a moment before reaching the glass doors bearing his name. On the other side of the glass he watched as the small frame of his partner strolled through the office smiling to herself as she talked to the older blonde behind the desk. His heart swelled as he felt both a pang of pride and pain. This was his Laura. The only person worth going through this for. And the only person whom he couldn’t tell what was going on. 

He watched her disappear through the doors to her office and timed his entry to the office with the ringing of the front desk telephone. Counting on both Mildred and Laura being preoccupied, allowing him to enter his office without having to face any questions.

Unwilling to let anyone know what was going on, he entered with his normal greeting “Morning, morning, morning” accompanied by a smile. He was on a b-line for his office when a voice stopped him, “Mr. Steele, I have a call for you,” Mildred smiled at him. He didn’t feel like talking to anyone.

“Er, Mildred, I am sure Miss Holt will be more than pleased to deal with this client,” he knocked twice on her desk with his knuckles and turned to escape into his office when Mildred’s words caught him,

“I have an Estelle Becker on the phone and she insists on talking to you in person,” Mildred said, a little too high for comfort. Mr. Steele’s eyes automatically darted to the closed office door of his partner, afraid she had heard but nothing happened so far. Inside he froze by the mention of the very woman who had turned his life upside down a week ago. Miss Becker from the INS, with her letter and her calls. Threatening to deport him in just 2 days unless…. It was unbearable to think about and he had spent night after night trying to come up with a solution that wouldn’t let Laura down. Wouldn’t put a stop to the advancements they had finally made to their personal relationship. He was lost in thought when Mildred’s voice caught him again,

“Mr. Steele, Miss Becker on the phone” she waved the phone in front of his eyes.

“Ah yes, Mildred,” he tried to maintain his cool, “on second thought put her through. Line 1, eh?” he forced a smile on his face and disappeared into his office. Closing the door behind him he pulled his hand through his hair and sighed in preparation of the call waiting for him. He watched as the light on the phone started to blink and took a few determined steps to close the distance to the desk. Putting on his most charming smile, he picked up the phone,

“Steele here,” he greeted the woman at the other end of the line.

“Mr. Steele, Estelle Becker from the INS. I have been researching your case and have come up with some very interesting information. Now why didn’t you just tell me this in the first place?” he heard the light voice saying. In other circumstances he would probably have found her voice pleasant. In this case he found that it made him sweat an uncomfortable, angsty sweat. There were too many things… no in fact there were only things he absolutely did not want the INS investigating. He cleared his throat,

“Ah yes, well in the matter of the circumstances, I didn’t know if it was relevant,” he tried to buy himself time while trying to think of what on earth Miss Becker had found out.

“Mr. Steele,” Miss Becker chuckled leaving him utterly confused, “are you trying to pull one over on me? I would say this clears the matter up completely. I will just need the original certificate of course.”

“Original … certificate,” he repeated, roaming his brain for what she could be referring to. And having a sinking feeling that this would not clear up anything since he to his knowledge didn’t own a single original certificate of anything.

“Yes, your original certificate of marriage of course, and then I’ll need to do a personal interview with your wife but then I will be able to close your file completely since you have been married to an american citizen over a year in advance to when we contacted you about the irregularities concerning your passport.”

“My … wife,” he felt his heart stop and his mind go blank. To his best knowledge he didn’t have a wife. Which presented a problem with the INS. However that was entirely preferable to the problem he would have if it turned out he did have a wife. His throat went completely dry with the second thought. How would he ever explain...no hide...no explain this to Laura?

“Yes, just make your wife call me and we’ll have everything in order.” Miss Becker sounded too happy.

“Ahem, just out of curiosity how did you find out about...my marriage, I mean excellent piece of detection,” he desperately needed more information and decided to try to flatter his way to it.

“Oh, Mr Steele you’re the professional in the field,” seemed like his flattery was working, “so of course you know that there is a lot of work going into digitalizing everything these days so it’s just a click away and Nevada has been way ahead for a long time. So I just did a search on your name and it popped up, “Certificate of marriage, The Little Chapel of Perpetual Happiness, Las Vegas, Remington Steele and.. though between us Mr Steele, I would have pictured you more of a grand scale type than a fast Las Vegas wedding.”

A fast Las Vegas Wedding. Mr. Steele felt his head spinning trying to absorb the information he had been given. He desperately needed the name of the woman he had supposedly married.

“Yes well, sometimes it’s good to keep things far from the public eye,” he tried to buy himself time once again.

“I understand,” Ms Becker agreed with empathy, “but not from the INS, especially since it closes your case. Just have your wife call me and I’m ready to close your case today. Have a good day.” and before he could get another word in Ms Becker had hung up leaving him dumbfounded trying to figure out what to do next.

He ran his hand through his hair once again to calm his nerves. Maybe he could work this to his advantage. If he could either find this supposed wife or convince somebody to pose as a wife for a short meeting with Ms. Becker, maybe it would all work out. Maybe, just maybe if Laura never found out…. He picked up the telephone to make another phone call.


	2. Chapter 2

Meanwhile in the outer office the day progressed as so many days before. Mildred was typing away on her trusted computer when the mail arrived. She exchanged a few pleasantries with the mailman, some might call it flirting, as she accepted the pile of letters. She bid him a good day and turned her attention to sorting through the mail, pausing at an official looking letter. As she inspected it Laura exited her office with her head in a file while she said,

“Was that Mr. Steele coming in before,” out of habit she looked at her watch to see what time her partner had decided to join the working force today,

“It was,” Mildred replied absentmindedly while examining the letter further. This immediately caught Laura’s attention and she zeroed in on her,

“Anything unusual in the mail today, Mildred?”

“I...I have… this is…”, Mildred tried while her brain was trying to process whether or not it would be a good idea to hide this from her employer but in the end she only achieved peaking the younger woman’s curiosity further,

“Well, what is it Mildred?” Laura demanded as she sat down on Mildred’s desk.

“This,” Mildred replied with a sigh and turned the letter around letting Miss Holt see the front of the envelope. There was a sticker indicating it had been redirected from Mr. Steele’s home address to the agency.

“Mr. Steele’s mail has been redirected to the agency?” Laura asked not paying full attention to what was in front of her.

“Oh, that’s not unusual the boss does that from time to time, I think he likes me to help him sort through it, make sure he pays his bills that sort of thing” 

Laura made a mental note of the need to have yet another conversation with Mr. Steele about the adequate use of Mildred’s work time but was uncomfortable interrupted when her eyes fell on names above the sticker.

Mr and Mrs Remington Steele

At first her heart and mind had much the same reaction as her partner experienced a few minutes earlier, they stopped in motion as they tried to take in what her eyes had stilled on. Mildred was the first one to regain her composure,

“I am sure it’s just a mix up,” Mildred tried but added, “it just looks so...odd and official.”

Laura debated with herself. Since the Friedlich Spa they had made real progress with their relationship. Towards trust. And commitment. Surely he wouldn’t have... probably somebody from his past was playing tricks on him. Again. But the letter did look very official… She made up her mind.

“Well, Mildred. Of late Mr. Steele and I share a relationship of mutual trust and commitment. So why don’t we just ask him.” She snatched the letter from Mildred’s hand and set in motion towards Mr. Steele’s office. But she didn’t get far before the man himself appeared.

“Ah, Mr. Steele we…” Laura started in a cheerful tone but paused when she saw the forced somewhat frantic smile on his face. The one he wore when he was about to do something exceedingly stupid in a panic. She felt her heart sink, “You are leaving?” she said in surprise as he passed her heading for the door.

“As a matter of fact I have a few ahem...things to attend to this morning,” he replied, hoping to get as fast and far away as possible. He needed time and he most certainly did not need Laura’s probing questions and ability to look right through him with just about the exact look she shot him now.

“But you just came in,” she said in disbelief,

“Ah, Miss Holt, but what’s life without a little surprise from time to time,” he tried to charm her while secretly cursing his own choice of words. This was probably on the top two of surprises she would rather live without. 

He continued to move towards the doors stopping only to place a fast kiss on Laura’s cheek as she tried to catch his eyes to get a feel of what was really going on, he avoided eye contact which by no means made her inner turmoil better.

“See you later,” he said. And with those words he hastily left the office. 

As so many times before Laura tried to remain calm and put on her brave face for Mildred though inside she was falling apart.

“Mildred, I am sure there is a perfectly logical explanation for this and it’s just a mix-up. Not to worry. When Mr. Steele comes back, we’ll clear this in no time” She clutched the letter in her hand a little too tight, walking slowly to her office, trying to seem like nothing was amiss.

However she had a hard time getting a grip on the feelings that were tormenting her inside. Was there really a Mrs. Steele? And what was going on? Mr. Steele’s breeze through the office by no means calmed her. She knew that smile. It was his panic smile. The one he put on when he thought he had everything under control but was about to mess everything up. It was the smile of secrets and deceit. The smile of hiding things from her. Things that almost always tore them apart and gave her trust in him a hard time.

She looked out the window from her office and down on the street in contemplation, while she touched the letter to her lower lip. It would be easy to open it. After all she was a detective and could do so without Mr. Steele ever finding out. However, it would also make her culpable of distrusting him. And that would put her in a bad position in their forthcoming….conversation...on the topic of trust. She was weighing the pros and cons when she much to her surprise saw her partner stand on the sidewalk. She couldn’t remember a single time Mr. Steele hadn’t left the office in either the auburn or the limo or with her in the rabbit. He was most certainly up to something. Had Daniel come back she wondered during the seconds before a red sports car pulled up next to him and the painful moment in which she recognized the redhead in the car as the call girl, Clarissa. 

Helplessly, she watched as the man she loved slid down into the passenger seat and neared his lips to Clarissa’s face. The distance made it impossible to see exactly where his lips met her face. But it only made a symbolic difference. Her partner was hiding something from her yet again. And she had a sinking feeling this was something that could destroy everything.


	3. Clarissa

Remington Steele directed Clarissa to a nearby restaurant where he had reserved a table in a private part of the dining room. He needed to move quickly to make things come together. He let Clarissa through the restaurant absentmindedly placing a hand on the small of her back directing her to the table where he pulled out the chair for her to sit on. Once seated she broke the silence.

“Remy, I was surprised that you called,” Clarissa said in a flirtatious voice, “have you reconsidered my offer of keeping you,” she lowered her lashes before looking up and into his eyes again “..company.”

“I’m afraid not, as pleasant as the thought might be,” Remington flirted back without leading her on, “unfortunately my proposal here today is mere business.” He smiled at the waiter and ordered a bottle of chardonnay.

“I need you to be my wife…” he said

“You certainly have a strange concept of business,” Clarissa said wide-eyed.

“Or rather I need you to pretend to be my wife during a meeting with the INS.” Remington explained. 

\---

Later in the afternoon Remington was on his way home in a taxi. Clarissa had agreed to pose as his wife with the INS after all she felt she owed him one. Also she had promised to keep tight about the whole thing. He only hoped she would make good of her promise. All he had to do now was to retrieve the marriage certificate for two reasons. One he had to show it to Estelle Becker as proof and two, Clarissa needed to know what name she would have to go under for the interview.

So he would have to fly to Las Vegas as soon as possible. Surely a place like, what was it, ah yes, The Little Chapel of Perpetual Happiness, would have copies...or could be convinced to make one. All he had to do now was book a ticket, and of course come up with an excuse as to why he wouldn’t be back at the office that day or the next.

All in all things were looking up. He could see a way out of this mess. All he had to do was keep Laura at bay for a day or so and then come up with a very good plan to make it up to her afterwards.


	4. Mr. Hunsberger

While Remington felt things were looking up, Laura felt the complete opposite. She immediately knew she didn’t stand a chance of tailing them. By the time she got to her car, they would be long gone. Also since he didn’t take the limo, she couldn’t rely on Fred for giving her information on Mr. Steele’s whereabouts. Her instinct was to call every place she could think of that he might turn up but she couldn’t ask Mildred to help her with that, since she had been so adamant about trust and commitment just before. 

All in all, she would just have to wait until the man himself showed up again and then ferret it out of him. This left her agitated and restless. She hated being out of control just slightly more than she hated being kept in the dark about things. In her current situation she was both at the same time.

So it had been a nice distraction when Mildred announced that Mr. Hunsberger was there to see her - or actually he was there to see Mr. Steele, but she took the new client-to-be into Mr. Steele’s office, gave him the usual talk of Mr. Steele being away on very urgent business and soon she had a fresh case to work on. Mr. Hunsberger’s business partner, Bruno Agnew, had disappeared two days ago and with him the blueprint for their new take-over and the list of all their clients. He wanted all of it back and gave Laura a list of Mr. Agnew’s friends, family, favorite restaurants etc. and said she might want to start with his apartment since that was the last place anyone had seen him.

Some people drink away their worries, some people hook up with strangers, and some gamble. For Laura Holt work did the trick. And since she had enough to go on after her meeting with Mr Hunsberger, she had spent the remainder of the day following up on leads before she returned to the office late in the afternoon. She wouldn’t admit it to herself, but she had put off visiting Mr. Agnew’s home in hope of being able to do it with Mr. Steele later. It was always good having someone to cover her back if she had to pick a lock or two. Plus she had a weird feeling about going there. So she decided to check in at the office to see if her partner was back..

And thus she walked through the glass doors to the office to find Mildred working on the computer, trying to find out everything about Mr. Agnew’s financial life and what else she could, and of course do a security check up on Mr. Hunsberger as well. She greeted Mildred and decided to start be enquiring about the case,

“Mildred, any progress on Mr. Agnew and Mr Hunsberger?”

“You bet,” Mildred pulled a piece of paper that was just coming out of the printer, “So Bruno Agnew and Arthur Hunsberger have been business partners for almost 15 years. First at Hunag corporation for 3 years, then at Agberger corporation for the last 12. They specialize in corporate ventures, investments that sort of thing. Things have been going pretty well for them. I called an old colleague at the IRS and they don’t have anything on the business. Seems pretty straight, however Bruno Agnew has been taking out large sums of money from his own and their company account over the last 6 months. And he popped up on the fraud squad radar 3 months ago.”

“Interesting,” Laura mused, “incidentally, according to his friends, 6 months ago, Bruno Agnew started seeing someone new.” she picked up her notes and leafed through them, “a Jeanette Fuller and he has been smothering her with pretty jewelry, expensive coats, that sort of thing. Yet no-one seems to have seen her or could give a description of her. Put her on top of your list. Good work, Mildred!”

She continued in what she hoped was a casual tone of voice,

“Oh and is Mr. Steele back yet?”, she walked in direction of his office in anticipation of a confirmation that he was indeed but was stopped by Mildred’s words,

“Uh, uh, Ms. Holt, he won’t be back again today or tomorrow, called a few hours ago. He had to visit an old friend out of town. He’ll be back tomorrow evening. Said to tell you there was nothing to worry about.”

“An old friend?!” Laura said in disbelief, “And what was so special about this old friend that he had to drop everything to visit...?” she paused not knowing whether to end the sentence with ‘him’ or ‘her’. Suddenly the surprise Mrs Steele on the letter this morning seemed less like a mix-up and more like something else.

“He didn’t say,” Mildred squirmed knowing pretty well where this conversation was going and what the consequences would be. She hated to see her kids torn apart emotionally.

“An old friend, my… Mildred, Has Mr. Steele had any strange comings and goings the last week...weeks, say months? Anything odd going on with agency funds? I don’t know what is going on but I intend to find out.”

“But Miss Holt, what about trust and commitment,” Mildred lectured her, “maybe there really is an old friend in trouble.”

“Mildred,” Laura crossed her arms only to release them again and throw them up in the air, “every time Mr. Steele tries to help an old friend - whether there really is an old friend or not - he ends up in trouble, sometimes he even risks the whole agency. Think about the Hapsburg dagger, the Duke of Rutherford and there are plenty more on the list. I thought we were beyond this. For some cock-eyed reason, I thought he had finally learned to trust me. To let me in. I don’t even know if I there is an old friend or if it’s just some dumb excuse for…..” she paused once again noticing Mildred’s miserable face, she leaned over the desk and took Mildred’s hand,

“I know Mildred, I know.”

“I am sure there’s a perfectly good explanation,” Mildred tried. Laura let go of her hand and added,

“Oh, and I want you to find out everything there is to find about a possible Mrs Steele. I bet wherever he is off too, it has something to do with that letter.”

“Oh, honey, you don’t really think,” Mildred started but was cut off by the phone ringing. She shot Laura an apologetic look and picked it up,

“Remington Steele Investigations,” Laura heard Mildred greet the caller and continue, “what, I can’t hear you Mr. Hunsberger.” 

Mildred’s words immediately caught Laura’s attention and she took the phone and held it to her ear, there was car noise in the background and Mr. Hunsberger’s voice cutting through above the noise, “Sorry, I’m calling from a payphone, Bruno called half an hour ago and said he wanted to meet at his apartment, to explain everything...and I’m here now...it’s just I don’t want to go in alone. And I thought that maybe, Mr. Steele could meet me here?”

“Of course, Mr. Hunsberger. Just give me the address and I’ll be right there…… Yes, Mr. Steele is still out of town…… No, I assure you I am just as experienced in this as he is,” she rolled her eyes while scribbling down the address, “see you in a little while.” She turned to Mildred,

“I’ll go meet, Mr. Hunsberger. You stay here and get on with those questions,” ending the conversation she grabbed her bag and left the office.


	5. A nice juicy murder

After arriving at the apartment at Rossmore, Remington had called The Little Chapel of Perpetual Happiness and found out that unfortunately the secretary who handled the archives had left for the day, but would be back at 9 am in the morning and he immediately made an appointment to see her.

Afterwards he booked a flight on the 7 pm flight for Las Vegas. With all that settled he called the office and told Mildred he would be out of town for a while. He knew Laura wouldn’t buy it, but he failed to come up with a better excuse. Remembering how the flu excuse flopped miserably a few years back, this would have to do. Maybe he could convince her there really was an old friend in trouble. He ran his hand through his hair and looked around. He had purposely booked an evening flight and planned to stay overnight in Las Vegas. He couldn’t risk staying in the apartment, there was a more than fair chance Laura would turn up in a little while and if that happened he had no idea how he’d make it to Las Vegas in time.

\----- ------ -----

Remington was right on the money, if it hadn’t been for Mr. Hunsberger’s desperate call, Laura would have headed straight for the Rossmore. But now she had to calm down a client and possibly solve a case first. She hated to admit it but she missed her partner. As she drove the rabbit to meet her client, she missed how they would have gone over the case together on their way there. She missed knowing that someone….and not just any someone... would have her back…. She scolded herself for being dependent as she pulled up on the curb where Mr. Hunsberger was waiting.

“Miss Holt! Are you sure we shouldn’t wait for Mr. Steele?” His words immediately made her push her longing for a partner far away. Of course she could do this on her own!

“I assure you everything will be fine. Now where are we going?” she asked

“Up there,” Hunsberger pointed to an apartment building that looked a lot less classy than what she would have expected for a business man as well off as Mildred had showed her he was, Hunsberger followed her eyes,

“I know what you are thinking, MIss Holt, what is Bruno doing in a place like this. I wish I knew. As I told you, he’s changed a lot these last 6 months. I hardly know him anymore and we’ve been together 15 years. He sold his house, his car...moved here...it’s part of the reason I was nervous to meet him on my own.”

“All right, let’s go,” Laura told her client and they crossed the street and entered the building. The apartment was on the first floor. They knocked but there was no answer. Laura turned the doorknob while calling out,

“Mr. Agnew, are you in here?” She had just opened the door when she saw a man clad in dark wearing a mask and with a gun in his hand, she threw herself to the floor and pulled her client with her while yelling, “Mr. Hunsberger, get down!” a few shots flew over their heads and she could see the shooter take flight through an open window. She ran to the window and could see the man land on the pavement and run off. If only Mr. Steele had been here, one of them could have chased the shooter and the other could have stayed with the client….she pushed the thought aside and turned around.

Her client had gotten up and looked pale. He pointed to a chair in the middle of the room….

“That…..that’s Bruno,” he stuttered and Laura walked around to see a man tied to the chair with a bullethole in his chest.

\---- ---- ----

At midnight Laura was finally free to go. She had called the police and they had sent one of their most thorough investigators who had questioned her several times, repeating the same 5 questions over and over again about the case (which she couldn’t answer because of client confidentiality), why she was there and what the gunman had looked like. She then had to calm down her client and call his wife. Wait for said wife to arrive, calm said wife down and make sure they were safely on their way home before she was finally left to do what she had wanted for hours: Get to Mr. Steele’s apartment and find whatever miniscule trace of anything there was to find.

Out of courtesy she knocked on the door though she wanted to kick it in. There was no answer. This reminded her too well of a year ago, when she had also knocked with no answer and suddenly she shuddered with the memory. She turned the doorknob. Only unlike last year the door was locked. She took out her key and opened it.

“Mr. Steele,” she called out with no answer. “Mr. Steele?” She walked through the living room into the bedroom through open doors. She couldn’t help herself but to open his closets, releasing a sigh of relief when she saw it was still full of expensive suits. She ran her hand through them before closing the closet once more.

“Mr. Steele, are you here?” she looked through all the rooms with no luck. She plunged into the sofa. Maybe there really was a friend this time? She looked at the notepad next to the telephone on the coffee table and something caught her eye. There were marks from whatever had been written on the paper that had been torn off. She took out a pencil and ran the lead over the notepad to reveal what had been jotted down in haste:

Little Chapel of Perpetual Happiness, 9 am  
Las Vegas, flight AA727, 7 pm

“Oh that….lousy…..” she sputtered with anger. She looked at her watch. Well, if he would be at The Little Chapel of Perpetual Happiness at 9 am, so would she! There had to be a morning flight and with that thought she rose, slammed the door behind her and went straight to the airport.


	6. The Little Chapel of Perpetual Happiness

_ The Little Chapel of Perpetual Happiness, Las Vegas, Nevada _

Remington Steele walked up to the building housing the Little Chapel of Perpetual Happiness at close to 9am. He threw a grimace of dislike in the direction of a sign advertising 24 hr service and the fake flowers at each side of the entrance. The onsight revoked no memories.. As he pushed open the glass doors a happy couple passed him on their way out. The woman was holding a bouquet of flowers and they were too preoccupied with kissing to notice anything and consequently bumped into Steele.

“Whoops, sorry there,” the man said as the woman giggled. Steele brushed over his suit and mumbled a low” congratulations” as he passed them and entered the Chapel. This better work. He had less than a day before he would face deportation. 

He looked around at the tasteless interior as a short man with a big smile met him with a welcoming handshake,

“Mr. Steele! What a pleasure to see you again! When I heard you were coming back I wanted to do this in person. But then I always figured you’d be back when you were over the honeymoon days and realized you had forgotten your package,” the man let out, “just didn’t think the honeymoon would last that long. But who can blame you with a wife like that,” he winked

“Ah, yes,” Remington tried to hide that the fact that the man recognized him only added to his panic, “My package.”

“If you’ll just come through here and wait, I’ll get it for you.” He let Remington through a set of heavy red velvet curtains and into an office, where he motioned him to sit in a brown leather chair. “How is Mrs Steele these days?”

Remington’s heart sank as he sat down. Had he really been here before? Marrying someone? And then to the imperial question: WHO? He had to get hands on the marriage certificate. 

“Yes, Mrs. Steele...as a matter of fact my...ahem...wife misplaced our certificate and sent me here on the very mission of securing a new copy,” he hoped this would work.

“Oh, Mr. Steele,” the man before him laughed, “you forgot your certificate. Too busy being newlyweds,” he winked again and continued, ”It’s all part of the package. Just a minute, I’ll get everything.” And with those words the man left him alone to his thoughts.

\--- ---

At the same time Laura arrived at the LIttle Chapel of Perpetual Happiness in a state that could not be further from the name of the building. Turned out the morning flight had been at 6.30 am and she had secured the last seat, in front of a very long-legged man and next to a chatty grandmother flying out to see her granddaughter get married causing her to go on and on about true love for the duration of the flight. There had been no sleep to be had. If she had been in a bad mood the day before, the flight and lack of sleep had brought her below zero.

“That louse,” she mumbled under her breath as she entered the chapel, bracing herself for what she might learn in just a few minutes. As she walked through the glass doors she saw a short man appearing from behind a pair of dark velvet curtains in the corner. When he saw her, he smiled. 

“Welcome, welcome,” he greeted her happily and shook her hand, he laughed like a grandfather gathering his grandchildren around him. “I will only be a minute if you’ll just wait in here.” He walked to the curtains in the corner and pulled one of them to the side allowing Laura to enter the small office space, before he dropped the curtain and disappeared.

Remington heard sounds from the curtains and turned around. His blue eyes meeting Laura’s brown as they both exclaimed simultaneously,

“What are you doing here?”

“ME? What are you doing here?”

Laura walked up to the chair and Remington rose to his feet, straightening his tie feverishly. She recognized the panicky way his hands felt the fabric. She knew this meant she caught him right in the middle of something he didn’t want her to know.

“Laura, please...don’t jump to conclusions just because,” he tried but was interrupted

“Just because what? I find you in the middle of The Little Chapel of Perpetual Happiness,” she sputtered the name, “It’s hard not to jump to conclusions when you are kept in the dark about everything, Mr. Steele.” she hit him on the shoulder with her purse.

“But, Laura….,” she held her hand up to stop him from saying more.

“I am so tired of these games,” she admitted, “I want us to be together and I know you do too. So why do we keep doing this to each other? What are you hiding this time?” She took the letter from her purse and slammed it on his chest.

“Who is Mrs Steele and how long has she been just that? And what ruse is she a part of?”

For a moment everything was silent. The air vibrating with everything said and unsaid. 

Finally, Remington spoke silently,

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know? What do you mean you don’t know?”

“I don’t know who Mrs. Steele is. I don’t remember marrying anyone.”

“What do you mean don’t remember? Like the time with Harry Cranston don’t remember or the time with Xanadu don’t remember?” Laura questioned

“I don’t know. Look, yesterday. Estelle Becker called and…” his voice trailed off realizing what he had just said. Knowing the slip would not pass Laura’s attention.

“Estelle Becker? Who is Estelle Becker?”,

“Estelle Becker is from the INS.” he might as well put it all out there now.

“The INS? Mr. Steele exactly WHAT is going on?” she demanded while she crossed her arms and stared at him,

“Look Laura,” he sat down on the armrest of the leather chair. “A week ago I was contacted by the INS. turns out they had found a...discrepancy with my passport. And since I don’t have a valid visa, they want to deport me within,” he looked at his wrist watch, “9 hours unless I am married to an american citizen by that time.”

Laura released her arms and threw them up into the air,

“So you decided to lure someone into marrying you here…” her anger was building “just when I thought you were done with all those shams, making me doubt you, us, me…. Wait is that why you’ve been hanging around with Clarissa lately. Is SHE Mrs. Steele?” Laura looked shocked at her realization, moving to turn around and walk out.

Remington grabbed her arm,

“Then yesterday, Estelle Becker called me saying that since I was already married to an american citizen, she just needed to see the original certificate and case closed.” Remington decided to try to avoid any talk of Clarissa if he possibly could.

“Already married? When? Who? Why?”, Laura demanded, “if you’re already married then what are you doing here? You’re not making a lot of sense, Mr Steele.” She pulled free and crossed her arms again,

“That’s just the thing. I don’t know. Ms Becker said the wedding had taken place here. And since I don’t remember marrying anyone your guess is as good as mine. Laura, please trust me on this one,” He pleaded, crossed his arms to mirror her and leaned back on the arm rest with a sigh releasing the tension that had built up.

“How do we even know this marriage has taken place?” Laura questioned, “and it’s not just a ruse or a sham? Someone trying to frame you, us again? Mr. Steele, when will you ever learn to confide in me about these things? We're partners. And we do best as a team. We face these things together and we fight them. And then we win. Together.” 

She reached out and placed her hand on his arm, looking into his eyes. 

“As partners,” she repeated.

He rose to his feet and framed her head with his hands, looking into her eyes he kissed her tenderly. Her hands rested on his arms. And that’s how the short guy with the big smile found them as he entered through the velvet curtains. 

“Sorry, it took so long. It’s been a while. But I can see you kept yourself occupied, heh heh, “he said as Laura and Remington jumped apart. “Oh no, please don’t be disturbed, after all love is the name of the game here at the Little Chapel of Perpetual Happiness,” he smiled through his words. “And it’s nice to see you’ve kept it up.”

“Kept what up?” Laura asked, Remington threw his hands in the air to indicate he had no idea what the man was talking about.

“Now here it is, the package with your pictures, video of the ceremony,” he placed a thick, brown envelope on the table in front of them. “And of course yoru Certificate of Marriage.” He placed an official looking document on top of the envelope with pride. Laura and Remington almost banged their heads together as they both leaped forward to look at the document. 

“This is to certify that the undersigned Reverend Marc Anthony Jacobs,” Remington read out loud.

“That’s me,” said the short man with the perpetual smile.

“Did on the 14th day of February 1985,” Laura continued, “At the Little Chapel of Perpetual Happiness, Las Vegas”

The reverend spread his arms proudly as if to show off the premises. Remington huffed as Laura continued,

“Join in lawful wedlock, Remington Steele of Dublin, Ireland,” he heard her voice prompting him to utter,

“Laura, I assure you…” but was interrupted by the woman beside him,

“Mr. Steele, wait, look at this,” he looked at the certificate once more and read out loud,

“And Laura Holt of Los Angeles, California, with mutual consent and in the presence of…” his voice trailed off as they looked at each other in disbelief.

“And what a glorious day… or night might I say it was,” the reverend Jacobs broke the silence.

“Mr. Steele, that looks an awful lot like your signature,” Laura pointed at the certificate.

“And that has a striking resemblance to yours,” Remington pointed at the line below the one where Laura’s finger rested.

“Of course it is,” the reverend didn’t grasp what was going on and continued,

“Now, I see a lot of couples every year. But you two I remember. You see, I see them all. Marriages of convenience. Hasty marriages to please a family or cover up a pregnancy, spur of the moment marriages where people just met. I love them all. But once in a while there is that one wedding, where you just know that these two are meant to be together. Usually they go to their home church, plan a wedding for a long time. But on a rare occasion I get to do the honors. So of course I remember you!”

“But we haven’t been to Las Vegas,” argued Remington

“Not since that case with Keyes,” Laura agreed, “and that was well over a year ago.” Their eyes both searched for the certificate again.

“In February of ‘85 wasn’t it,” Remington said silently, “but we couldn’t have gotten married without remembering anything. That’s absurd”

“Unless…” Laura said, “that night after we solved the case. And it was too late to return home.”

“And we decided to toast to our success,” Remington picked up

“and the two days of almost no sleep and adrenaline made the champagne go straight to our heads….” Laura continued until Remington took over

“And when we woke up the next morning we didn’t remember much but decided that given the fact we were still dressed and still in the suite where we opened the bottle…”

“we had just passed out from lack of sleep.” Laura finished off.

They looked at each other again. 

“You don’t suppose,” Laura said

“We wouldn’t have,” Remington continued.

“But you did!” Reverend Jacobs concluded and added to comfort them, “Love always has a way. What’s meant to be will be and sometimes when people are too stubborn to fix things themselves, fate will have to make an alternative route. Heh, heh. Now, here is your package with the wedding pictures, video of the ceremony, and of course your marriage certificate.” He put the document into the envelope and handed it to Remington.

“It was so good to see you again,” he motioned for them to leave. “I am sorry to rush you but I have someone waiting at the altar.” 

“Of course,” Remington obliged, “Don’t want to leave someone hanging at the altar.” He put his hand on the small of Laura’s back and escorted her out through the velvet curtains. 

\---- ---- ----

Once out of the street neither Remington nor Laura knew what to say. 

“Does that mean that all this time… when you left for London, we were married” Laura tried to get her head around what had happened within the last 20 minutes.

“Do you realize this means that when we went to the sensitivity spa, we were really husband and wife,” Remington added, making them both laugh shortly.

“And when Laurie Beth calls you Uncle Remington, she has actually been right all along,” Laura pointed her finger to his chest.

“I wonder what possessed us to do it,” she continued contemplatively. 

“Maybe we’ll find the answer in here,” Remington answered and wiggled the envelope with the video cassette and the pictures.

“As anxious as I am to answer that question, Mr. Steele, I think there are more pressing matters at hand,” Laura took the envelope and continued, “If I heard your right Estelle Becker needs to see this marriage certificate within 8 and a half hours, or she’ll deport you. And we’re still in another state! We need to get back to Los Angeles and set up a meeting with Ms Becker and then we can deal with this….marriage later.” Laura had slipped back into her comfort zone of problem solving and planning.

“Ahem, apart from seeing the certificate, Ms Becker requested a phone call from my wife as well,” Remington said apologetically and pulled his earlobe.

“All right, nearest pay phone,” Laura looked around. Locating one not too far away, she took a few fast steps in that direction followed by Remington and said, “Give me all your quarters.”

“Sorry...too bulky,” he replied and patted his pockets.

“You are not saying you are still not carrying cash?” Laura rolled her eyes and retrieved a few coins from her wallet. She picked up the pay phone and pressed the keys, when the connection came through, she said,

“Mildred, good…. I know, he’s here with me. Now listen I need you to book Mr Steele and I on the first flight leaving Las Vegas for LA….. Yes, you heard me right. Las Vegas. We’ll go to the airport directly. And then I need you to get me the number for Estelle Becker at the INS, LA office. I’ll call you back when we’re at the airport… don’t worry Mildred, I’ll tell you everything when we come back.” She hung up, and entered the taxi Remington had hauled while she was on the phone.


	7. In flight

_ McCarren Airport, Las Vegas _

Once at the airport Laura called Mildred back and got information she had hoped for: they were booked on a flight leaving half an hour later for Los Angeles. Once that was settled she called Estelle Becker at the number Mildred had dug up for her. Turned out, Mildred had connections within the INS and provided a direct number.

Laura sighed as if to gather courage and punched the digits on the payphone. It rang a few times and was picked up,

“Ms Becker, this is Laura…”she paused and shot a look at Remington, giving him an instant wish to apologize for something he couldn’t put his finger on, “Steele. I understand from my,” another small pause, another look, “husband that you wanted me to call in relation to his status with the INS.”

There was a pause while Ms Becker talked at the other end of the phone. Remington nervously gnawed at his fingernail.

“Yes, I understand.” Laura did her best to sound casual, “we’re on our way with the original certificate of marriage and a few wedding pictures, can we meet in 3 hours? Yes, I’ll get the address. All right, we’ll see you in three hours then. A Las Vegas wedding… yes, I suppose, but working together we were hoping to keep this a secret from all our clients and the public, I am sure you understand, discretion is key in our business.” 

Remington was still working on the fingernail while secretly his heart swelled as Laura provided him with a very plausible cover.

“I knew we could count on you, Ms. Becker. We’ll see you later.” She hung up, “All right we have a flight and a meeting with Estelle Becker in three hours. Let’s go”

Remington jerked from the reclining position he had against the wall. He held out his arm for Laura to take,

“Mrs Steele, eh?” he allowed himself a smirk.

“Don’t push it,” Laura said warningly but with a spark in her eye as she took his arm and walked towards the gate.

\--- --- ---

Once on the flight Laura and Remington fell into thought each on their own until after take off. But when the stewardess offered drinks, Remington took Laura’s hand,

“Two glasses of champagne,” he ordered,

“Do you really think that’s wise?” Laura asked, “after all it seems that was what got us into this predicament in the first place.”

“On the other hand, this predicament, as you poetically put it, seems to save me from deportation. And as I recall we have yet to determine what really happened that night.” He tapped twice on the envelope in Laura’s lap with his index finger.

She picked it up. Someone had written “Steele wedding, Feb 14th ‘85” on the front. She turned it around and opened it. 

“I guess now is as good a time as any to look at the pictures,” she continued to extract them from the envelope as the champagne arrived. Remington handed her a glass and toasted his to hers.

“For my bride,” he said and kissed her temple and they took a sip.

“To be honest,” Laura said softly. “I don’t know how I feel about all of this.” 

She looked at the first picture. It was undoubtedly them. Her in the suit and turtleneck she had worn that night. Remington in the brown jacket he had worn. She held a small bouquet of flowers. They were face to face, lost in each other’s eyes, big smiles on their faces.

“They look happy,” Remington looked at the picture stating the obvious.

“They do, don’t they,” Laura said dreamily “How could they...we...be so happy, make such a decision and then forget all about it? And what happens now?”

“I don’t know,” was Remington’s honest reply, “but I cannot with any truthfulness say that I feel sorry for what I discovered today and it’s not just because of the INS. Do I feel confused, yes. Dumbfounded, yes. Surprised, yes. But sorry, no. I’d rather say I feel proud.” 

Laura looked at him with surprise in her face, “Proud?”

“Yes, have you seen my wife?,” he pointed to the picture, “would make any man in his right mind proud” 

“You smooth talker, you” Laura mumbled as he lifted the first picture revealing the one underneath. This picture showed the same couple as before only this time lost in a passionate kiss,

Laura took the picture up for closer inspection, “Looks like we had fun.” Suddenly she started to laugh. “Here I am. Having worked hard for years to put an end to my terminal flights of frivolity and then I guess I got the better of myself after all.” 

“Ah, but then again Laura. I’ve always loved that side of you,”

“I know. That’s part of the problem, you know. I have to fight both you and myself at the same time. My….passionate side… not only cost me a relationship or two. It also almost got me kicked out of Havenhurst once or twice and let’s not forget put me in a number of dangerous situations. It’s not all fun and games.” she looked at him hoping he would understand,

“I see, but maybe...just maybe that’s why we are such a good team, eh?” Remington replied “when one of us is frivolous the other can be grounding and vice versa,” He looked at her with hope in his eyes.

Unwilling to commit to an answer that moment, she turned her attention to her lap and looked at the next picture in the pile showing them exchanging a tender kiss in front of the altar. No one could deny that this was a kiss of love. She smiled and her dimple showed.

“I wish I could remember this,” she said in a voice so soft it was almost a whisper. The picture was in her lap and Remington leaned in to see it better. When he saw it, his face grew soft. He took her hand and kissed it,

“So do I,” his voice was filled with emotion, their eyes met before he continued, “now, I’m no expert but I think they might have potential, these two. Plus your dimple is showing.”

“My dimple?”, she laughed in pleasant surprise.

“Your dimple.” He touched it tenderly, “and whenever your dimple shows, it’s always a good sign.” he touched his lips to hers briefly. She gathered the pictures in her lap.

”I don’t know what comes next. I have no idea how we pick up our lives after this… do we pick up where we left off yesterday? Do we need to change certain things in our lives and which? What do I want? What do you want?” she asked in honesty and looked at him,

“Maybe we don’t need to come up with the answers all at once,” he suggested. “I know it’s not the way you usually try to live your life but maybe we could commit to taking it one day at a time, eh?”

“Mr. Steele, need I remind you that I usually do my christmas shopping in August?” Laura argued with a playful smile on her lips.

“Yes,” he shifted to face her with his whole body, “but I happen to know that Laura Holt is also a woman who spur of the moment got on a plane to London without as much as her passport,” he kisser her nose, “and there was the time where she stole the Pitkins,” another kiss landed on her cheek, “or the time she lifted the Five Nudes of Cairo with a man she had only know a short while,” another kiss on the other cheek.

“Or what about the time,” he was interrupted by Laura who launched into a full kiss. When their lips parted she said, “all right we’ll try one day at a time for now.” She held his chin between her thumb and index finger,

”

“Oh and by the way, I’m still going to find out what was going on with Clarissa.” She sat back and enjoyed watching him swallow something invisible and straightening his tie.

“Ah, yes Clarissa….” Remington didn’t know where to start what to say, so Laura decided to help him on the way,

“You know Mr. Steele, I have thought this over a few times and I can’t come up with one single reason that you should get into the car with a….love broker. Not a reason I like anyway, so you might as well spit it out.” She looked at him in anticipation,

“Ahem, Clarissa… yes….Laura, now please remember that I was just trying to avoid deportation, I wanted to give us the time that we need to work on our personal relationship, I meant no harm to anyone….and” Remington was treading waters trying to come up with something that wouldn’t ruin the good mood,

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, just spit it out,” Laura was growing inpatient.

“I asked her to pose as my wife with the INS,” he admitted

“As your wife?” there was disbelief in Laura’s voice 

“Yes, well you see, Estelle Becker called saying I was already married and then I figured that maybe you didn’t need to find out if I could just…..”

“Mr. Steele,” Laura interrupted while remaining calm “all, I’ve ever asked of you is that you stop running around corners with me. Yes, sometimes that means you’ll tell me things that I don’t particularly like, or things that will make me angry. But I’m not going to run away because there’s a problem with the INS. You don’t need to protect me like that. Besides you don’t think very well, when you panic, so you could use some help in those situations.”

“What do you mean, I don’t think well. Remington Steele is known for his deductive reasoning,” Remington replied like he had taken offence.

“The point is,” Laura ignored his last outburst,”that part of being partners is that we face things together. Good AND bad.”

“Sounds a lot like for better and for worse when you put it like that….” he said as he took her hand in his and kissed it while the stewardess informed them to fasten their seatbelts and prepare for landing.


	8. Estelle Becker

_ The INS offices, Los Angeles _

Laura and Remington went straight to see Estelle Becker after landing at LAX and arrived a little ahead of time. After a short wait they were picked up in the reception by Estelle Becker who led them to a small conference room. She motioned for Remington and Laura to take a seat,

“As I explained on the phone, this is more a formality than anything else,” she started out, “now, if you two had married today, you would have been looking into 2 years of pretty thorough investigation: separate interviews, unannounced visits, interviews with friends and family to make sure your marriage was based on love and nothing else,”

Laura and Remington shot each other a look and both smiled a bit nervously,

“However, since you were married over a year in advance to when Mr. Steele’s passport was brought to our attention, we don’t have to do any of that and this meeting is just to make sure you really exist, Mrs. Steele and isn’t just a figment of someone’s imagination,” she smiled at both of them and added, “Do you have any proof of your identity Mrs. Steele? Drivers licence, birth certificate that sort of thing?”

Laura held back an urge to roll her eyes and answered with an annoyance so slight only Remington picked up,

“I do have all of those,” she opened her purse and took out drivers licence and PI-licence and handed them to Estelle Becker who acknowledged them with a nod and scribbled something down in the file in front of her,

“Good, now I do apologize for the inconvenience,” she handed the licences back to Laura, “but I do have a few more questions just to be able to close the file completely. First of all, Mrs. Steele you seem to still go under your maiden name, and you still keep separate addresses?”

“Yes, well,” Laura answered, “in our profession a public known attachment can be a security risk. The same reason we kept our wedding a secret, you see we deal mostly with people who live on the dark side of the law and some of them wouldn’t hesitate to exploit it if they knew of our mutual,” she looked at Remington, “affections and relationship. In the same way it’s very practical to keep both apartments but to be able to keep a cover but also to have someplace to hide a client.”

“I see,” Estelle Becker nodded, “but then why get married at all?” this time Remington jumped in to answer,

“Miss Becker, we look death in the eye more times than I like to think about. And if the unthinkable should happen,” he took Laura’s hand in his, “I’d like Laura to know without any doubt that my commitment to her was real. Now I’ve never considered myself the marrying kind up until a few years ago, but suddenly I had this overwhelming urge to form a commitment stronger than I ever had before. Also in our line of work there are often circumstances that try to tear us apart and I want,” he looked at Laura, “my wife to know,” he looked back at Estelle Becker, “that no matter what anyone else says or does that she is just that to me.”

“I see, I see,” Estelle Becker took a tissue to the corner of her eye, “I’m sorry love always gets me emotional...it’s such a disadvantage in this job, Now I don’t have any doubts as to your relationship status, I made a few discreet calls to editors of the society pages, and it's widely known that Mr. Steele has been off the market for years. The only thing that could rock this boat would be if you hadn’t consummated your marriage,” Laura and Remington both laughed awkwardly, taking care not to look at each other,

“And I don’t see much chance of that,” she said while looking at Remington and laughed, “so all that’s left is for me to see a copy of the certificate of marriage, and then I need you to sign this and we’re all done.”

“Of course,” Laura took out the certificate and pushed it over the table wanting to steer clear of any conversation concerning the more intimate details of their relationship.,

“You got married on Valentine’s Day?” Estelle Becker exclaimed, “that is so romantic. I wish I had time to hear all the details, but I’m afraid I need to get this filed as soon as possible. If you’ll just sign her.:” She pushed a piece of paper over the desk, Remington signed and gave Laura the pen, she looked at the paper. Below the still empty dotted line, it said Laura Steele. She felt her identity go down the drain while she put the pen to the paper and signed it while she said,

“Miss Becker, tell me what alerted your attention to my husband in the first place. As far as I know it’s not common practice to go over every passport issued.”

“Oh, I probably shouldn’t tell, but we were given a formal alert by Norman Keyes. He used to work for us years back and he put us on to you. Pulled a few strings high up to make us go into it too.”

“That darned Keyes,” Remington huffed and Laura tried to smooth things over,

“We came across Mr. Keyes on a few cases, he found a few identity documents Mr…” she paused, “Remington has used in the line of business, I’m surprised a trained professional like himself wasn’t able to see the difference between a real document and one made to assist us when we go undercover.”

“Well, between us,” Estelle Becker looked around and lowered her voice, “I never like the man and I bet this is personal more than anything else. So I’d look out if I were you.” And then she added in a normal voice as she picked up the papers and gave them back the certificate, “I’m going to file this immediately and you can consider yourself off the hook when it comes to the INS. Just don’t get divorced the next couple of years.”

\--- --- ---

When Laura and Remington left the building a few minutes later, Remington was still fuming,

“If I ever get my hands on Keyes I’m going to wring his neck,”

“I’m not sure he’s worth it,” Laura replied calmly and added, “though he does seem to have it in for you.” They paused outside the building and she turned to face him,

“You were very convincing in there, when you told her why we got married,”

“Ah, Laura, I…” he started out and drew her into his arms but then yelled, “Laura, look out,” as he pulled her to the ground and put his body on top of hers as bullets came flying over their heads,

“We weren’t even kissing yet,” he said and peeked up, while Laura added,

“Again? That’s the second time in two days that guy is shooting at me,”

“Someone shot at you and your didn’t tell me,” Remington looked at her,

“There wasn’t time,” she uttered as the man had apparently emptied his gun and turned around to run, “Mr. Steele, he’s getting away!”

And with that they both jumped to their feet and chased the man down the street. They caught up with him a few blocks down. Remington knocked him against a building and tore off his mask,

“What were you doing shooting at us?” he demanded

“Sorry,” the man said “I never meant to hit you. I just wanted to scare you off.”

“To whom do we owe the honor?” Remington continued

“Huh?” the man replied

“Who are you?” Remington simplified his question

“I’m Jimmy. Jimmy Smits…”

“Well, Jimmy, unfortunately for you I take exemption when someone tries to put a bullet in my wife,” 

“Sorry, man. I didn’t shoot to aim…”

“You were at Mr. Agnew’s apartment yesterday,” Laura interrupted him and made a mental note of having a conversation with Mr Steele about separating their personal and professional lives. 

“That was the dump with the dead dude, right?” Jimmy asked

“You were there shooting at me, why?” Laura questioned him

“Why should I answer your questions, lady?” Jimmy asked, 

Laura pulled out her licence and showed him, “Because we want answers.” 

“And we’re running out of patience, mate,” Remington slammed him against the wall once more,

“All right, all right, so three nights ago this guy I know calls in a favor, and I kinda owe him big, so I couldn’t say no. Gave me a gun and said I had to sit at an apartment with a dead dude in it and wait for a lady to show up. And when I see her to fire a few rounds and take off. Only the lady didn’t show for hours, so I called Hunsberger again and he said he’ll get her to show and just stay put. And then half an hour goes by and you turned up,” Jimmy nodded at Laura

“Mr. Hunsberger told you to shoot at me?”, Laura started to smell a connection,

“Oh man, I wasn’t supposed to say his name,” the guy said.

“Laura, who is Hunsberger and what’s going on?” Remington said with annoyed surprise and looked at her while still holding on to the man in front of him,

“Our client,”

“Our client had someone shoot at you?”

“Wouldn’t be a first. Now that explains yesterday Mr. Smits. But why were you shooting at us again today?” Laura demanded 

“Oh, yeah….I was taking a walk when I saw you drive up earlier and I figured if I gave you an extra scare Mr. Hunsberger might give me a little extra you know, still had the gun in the car an’ everything” he smiled awkwardly.

“The best and the brightest,” Remington mumbled

Laura picked up the gun that Jimmy had dropped to the ground earlier using a handkerchief from her purse,

“I wonder if the bullet that killed Bruno Agnew came from this,” she mused while she put it in her bag,

“Now we’ll drop you off at the LAPD, and you can give them your full statement, while we visit Mr. Hunsberger and find out what’s going on.”


	9. Mildred

**Chapter 9**

At the offices of Remington Steele Investigations Mildred was pacing the floor. She had retrieved several pieces of information that she didn’t know what to do about. 

First she had spent the better part of two hours breaking into the California and Nevada State Archives. At first she was heartbroken when she learned there really was a marriage certificate bearing the name of Remington Steele, and then she had been dumbfounded for hours when she learned to whom he was married. It just didn’t make sense, why would Miss Holt act this way when she….. She just couldn’t wrap her head about it.

To take her mind off of this she turned her attention to the Hunsberger case and ran a double check on the book keepings coming up with some very incriminating evidence, also the LAPD had called insisting to talk to Miss Holt again and she had no idea where her employers were or when they’d turn up.

And this was how Remington and Laura found her when they walked into the office to pick up the agency gun before they were off to visit Mr. Hunsberger.

“Miss Holt, Mr. Steele,” Mildred exclaimed when she saw them,

“Mildred,” Laura greeted back, “I’m sorry we don’t have long, we just need to pick up the agency gun before visiting Mr. Hunsberger.” Remington and Laura continued into his office

“Oh, that slime ball,” Mildred replied and followed them, “You wouldn’t believe what I found out!” 

“Please, enlighten us on your discoveries,” Remington encouraged her as he and Laura started looking for the agency gun.

“So, remember when I said Agnew was on the fraud squad’s radar,” Mildred started as Remington pulled out his desk drawers, “turns out they are suspecting him of pulling money out of the company, him and Hunsberger too. So I went over their books and there have been some huge expenditures. Agnew has been buying jewelry and furs enough to dress the royal family. Only when I looked up the girlfriend...bupkiss, she doesn’t exist. Not under that name anyway.”

Laura popped her head out from the bathroom with the gun in hand, “got it. Now where are the bullets?”

“Oh, and Miss Holt,” Mildred added, “The LAPD keeps calling. Apparently, the Agnew fellow had been dead for hours when you showed up and they want your statement again.”

“Dead for hours.…” contemplated Laura….” when Mr. Hunsberger called me, he said that Bruno had  _ just  _ called him half n’ hour ago.”

“Dead men don’t make telephone calls,” Remington stated,

“And none-existent girlfriends don’t wear jewelry or fur coats,” Laura added “Now where are those bullets?”

“Uhmmm, Miss Holt, I also have some news on the other matter, I was investigating,” Mildred tried to say discreetly

“What other matter,” Laura asked absentmindedly while she looked through the cupboards, 

“The...ahem...Mrs-matter… you know the one that arrived by mail yesterday,” Mildred tried her best not to alert Remington’s attention and tried to convey the message by moving her eyes in his direction.

“Oooooh, that matter,” to her relief Laura got her drift,”I think I can say that case had been solved.”

“What case,” Remington walked up next to her and took the gun from her hand, he popped it open and examined it inside “Laura, you don’t mean to tell me that you’ve hidden not one but two cases from me these last days? Here you are always going on about being partners…” Laura interrupted him,

“Mr. Steele the only reason you didn’t know about the Hunsberger case was that you were visiting an old friend, remember,” she took the gun back, “and with regards to the other case, it wasn’t as much a case as it was me trying to find out who the Mrs. Steele on the letter that arrived yesterday was.” She snapped the gun closed. “And I asked for Mildred for help with that.”

“And I found out,” Mildred said,”It’s just….Oh, Miss Holt I don’t know how to say this but...it seems like Mrs Steele is…..you.”

“I know, Mildred,” Laura said…”We know.”

“Then why did you put me on it? I just don’t get it!”, Mildred was clearly a little vexed and felt like she had been kept in the dark.

“I didn’t know yesterday,” Laura said while she put her hand on Mildred’s shoulder, “I suppose it’s a long story, and we don’t even know most of it ourselves..but it seems that last year when we were in Las Vegas, Mr. Steele and I had too much champagne and for some reason we….”

“Got married,” Remington took over, “Only we don’t remember.”

“You got married and don’t remember. Swing that by me again,” Mildred said and look at Remington,

“We might never have found out if it hadn’t been for Estelle Becker from the INS,” Laura picked up

“Didn’t she call you yesterday, boss”

“I believe she did,” Remington mused, not wanting to say too much since it might still be a sensitive topic with Laura who jumped in,

“We promise to tell you everything, Mildred, how about tomorrow we go out for lunch and I’ll give you the whole story gal-to-gal?”

Mildred softened and nodded,” Allright, Miss Holt...or is it Mrs Steele now?”

“I think we’ll just stick to Miss Holt for now,” Laura replied while Remington shot her with a curious look. To his surprise he found that he was growing very fond of the idea of being able to publicly claiming Laura as his own. His chain of thought was interrupted, when said Laura exclaimed:

“Ha! Got them!” as she extracted the bullets from behind one of the cushions on the sofa, “Let’s go visit Mr. Hunsberger and then we’ll talk tomorrow, allright Mildred? And good work by the way”

“Excellent work,” Remington added and kissed Mildred’s cheek on his way out the door after Laura.

Mildred sighed, she never really knew what was up or down with her kids. But marriage sounded good and at least they seemed to be on the same page for now, and that was good enough to make her sleep through the night.


	10. What happened in Vegas

**Chapter 10**

_ The apartment at Rossmore. _

“So Mr. Hunsberger and Bruno Agnew were draining company funds by fake receipts on jewelry and furs for a girlfriend that never existed,” Laura took her glass from the table and walked towards the sofa, “they even sold Agnew’s house to finance their forthcoming Carribean adventure.”

“Only, Hunsberger got greedy and decided to get his partner out of the way,” Remington took his own glass and followed her, “So he shot him, shortly before he thought you’d show up. And had poor Jimmy shoot at you to make you think he was the killer,” 

“It might have worked too, had I gone to Agnew’s apartment first,” Laura added, “that explains why he was so insistent that would be my first stop. I would have pointed to the wrong man and Hunsberger might have gotten away with it.”

“Mmmmmm,” Remington said, “Laura, why didn’t you visit the apartment first? You’ve always stressed going to the source first and then working your way out from there.”

Not ready to answer that question, Laura picked up something from the coffee table, “Ready for this?” she asked while she held up the video cassette labelled “Steele wedding, 14th Feb 1985” and wiggled it in her hand.

“Ready as I ever can be,” was the reply as Remington lit the fireplace and topped up their drinks before he sat down in the sofa, his arm resting along the back of the sofa

Laura launched the cassette into the VCR and pressed play. She turned and sat next to him and accepted her glass.. Taking a sip she leaned into his body as the picture came on.

_ It showed a young, blonde woman. “Hi, I’m Emily Pierce, and today is Valentine’s Day” she squealed with a happy voice that made you think about children’s shows on Sunday mornings. “And I am here to give you a forever-memory of your big day.” _

“So far she hasn’t made a lasting impression,” Remington commented drily as the woman on the tape continued,

_ “Tonight is the night of the marriage of,” she looked at a piece of paper in her hand, “Remington Steele and Laura Holt and I have the groom here with me.” She dragged Remington into the picture. “So Mr. Steele while your fiancé freshens up, let’s make some memories for the two of you! Let me ask you, how did you two meet?” _

_ “We met…..” Remington paused to think “Well, Emily wasshh it?”  _

On screen he swayed and Laura hummed with amusement in her voice, 

“Mmm hmmmmm, looks like somebody took a big dip in the champagne that night” 

_ The Remington on the screen steadied himself and continued. _

_ “I was on a special….ahem... case and I met Miss Holt while….researching….for how to best accomplish my goal. I walked into her office and my eyes fell on her. She was behind my desk..the desk that is now my desk..and I guess the rest is history” _

_ Emily Pierce smiled enthusiastically and asked, “ and what made you fall in love with Laura” _

At the apartment Remington shifted uncomfortably behind Laura, knowing very well that whatever came next had the potential to ruin the thin truce they had at the moment.

_ “In love with Laura….,” he started out and continued in a whisper “If you promise not to tell anyone, let me tell you about a boy, grown into a young man. He never stayed too long in one place. Made him uncomfortable.” he swayed slightly again before he continued “then one day he met this woman...and all of the sssssudden, he was ready to give up everything to get lost in her hazel eyes just once more.” _

The confession on screen made Remington bold and he lifted his arm from the back of the sofa and draped it around Laura instead. She welcomed his arm by taking his hand and lacing their fingers.

_ Emily Pierce swooned a bit, “And tell me what it is you love about Laura” _

_ Remington smiled, “Laura…...Laura…..” he didn’t seem to find the right words, “I am a man who loves impossible challenges, I always thought feeling at home in one place was the impossible challenge. But with Laura staying seems easy. Sometimes I feel like she is the only one who understands me and still likes me for all that she sees” He paused again swaying once more, “I’m not good with words...not finding the ones Laura needs to hear anyway.” He spread his arms in an apologetic motion, “but I will say that I love the way she says cotton candy, I love that underneath her professionalism she is appealingly human, spontaneous, passionate, and sometimes she even lets me see it.” _

_ Emily’s voice took over once more, “So, Mr. Steele, how did you propose? Why made you two decide that tonight was the night?” _

_ The Remington on screen laughed, “I wouldn’t call it a proposal esshaaaaxtly, rather let’s say we had a…...conversation about commitment. Laura is always hackling me about commitment. I pointed out that she was the one shying away from commitment not me. And that if I got down here and waited at the altar, she’d never make it to the ‘I dos”. I guess you can say she is a woman who never backs down from a challenge.” _

_ “Allright,” Emily’s voice showed her discomfort with the reply, obviously she had expected something more romantic, “now I think it’s time for you to go wait at the altar.” _

At the sofa Laura let out a chuckle, “You challenged me into marrying you?” 

“It would seem so,” Remington said “or rather it seems we had a stand-off when it comes to commitment.”

_ The picture came back on focused on Emily Pierce once more, _

_ “And here I am with the bride, Miss Holt,” she dragged Laura into the picture, “How did you meet Remington?” _

_ Laura swayed like her partner had done a few minutes earlier and suppressed her hick-ups, “Remington?...oh, he came into the office. Popped his head in, we were both interested in the same jewels...case, I mean. He came in with his blue eyes and mysterious past and before I knew it he’d…” her voice trailed off before saying too much, to her luck Emily eagerly jumped in, _

_ “Caught your heart?” _

_ Laura suppressed another hick-up and smiled, “Let’s just say he certainly caught my attention, and it wasn’t just because of the magnum of champagne!” _

“The champagne worked, did it?” Remington smirked behind her on the sofa.

“Shush, I can’t hear,” Laura avoided his question with a twinkle in her eye

_ Emily took the word again, “And what makes you love Remington?” _

_ Laura looked into the camera as if she was accepting a challenge, _

_ “He makes risking everything worth it.” She simply stated, “every tear, every worry, every dance, every kiss, every argument we have. I never feel like he’d rather I was somebody else. I love that he always sees good in other people, that he always protects the underdog. I like the way he takes on a challenge, how he adapts to every setting we’re in...” _

_ “Wow,” Emily squealed once more, “sounds like love. Now Remington said he proposed by challenging you into marrying him, is that right?” _

_ Laura turned her attention to Emily, “Challenged, I guess you can say that, though it was more me who challenged him. I said he wouldn’t know commitment even if it was waiting for him at the altar, and he replied that even if he were waiting at the altar, I wouldn’t have the guts to say yes… so I warned him that Las Vegas has 24 hour marriage services….and here we are. Though…” _

_ Emily interrupted Laura, clearly feeling this might get out of hand from her perfect love story, “Aaaaall right, and I guess now is time for the ceremony, if you’ll just wait here for a second.” The camera was shut off. _

“Looks more like you challenged me,” Remington laughed in the sofa and lowered his lips to Laura’s

“Guess, we’ll never know for sure,” she mumbled just before their lips met. The kiss was interrupted when the video continued and they turned their attention to the TV. 

_ A small altar was in the picture with Remington waiting next to the Reverend Jacobs that they had met earlier in the day. He winked at Remington as Laura walked down the aisle with a small bouquet of flowers in her hand. Remington’s eye caught her and it was obvious he was overwhelmed my emotions as she took his arm and they turned towards the reverend who started, _

_ “Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to join in holy matrimony this man and this woman….” _

_ Remington whispered something in Laura’s ear that made her mouth, “Not backing down” _

_ “Now do you Remington take Laura to be your lawfully wedded wife? To have and to hold, in sickness and in health, in good times and not so good times, for richer or poorer, keeping yourself unto him for as long as you both shall live?” _ __   
  


_ Remington looked at Laura with victory in his eye, _

_ “I do,” there was a smirk on his lips and he continued, “all up to you now Miss. Holt.” while the reverend continued: _

_ “Do you Laura take Remington to be your lawfully wedded husband? To have and to hold, in sickness and in health, in good times and not so good times, for richer or poorer, keeping yourself unto her for as long as you both shall live?” _

_ Laura looked at the reverend and then at Remington and then the same victorious smile spread across her face as was seen on Remington’s moment before, _

_ “I do,” they looked at each other as if to take it all in,  _

_ “By the authority vested in me by The American Marriage Ministries and the great State of Nevada, I now pronounce you man and wife, you may kiss your bride, heh heh.”  _

_ Reverend Jacobs announced. In front of him, Laura and Remington turned to face each other, he lifted his hand to put a stray lock of hair behind her ear and there was the image they had seen on the picture. Of two people clearly in love. On screen they moved into the next frame, as Remington lowered his lips to Laura’s and kissed her tenderly, and then they moved into the next more passionate stage of kissing as Emily Pierce showed up once again and ended the video by saying, _

_ “Laura and Remington might claim this was all about being challenged, but you can’t fool us here at The Little Chapel of Perpetual Happiness, this if true love. Hope you have a great life, Mr and Mrs Steele. And since it might all have started with a magnum of champagne, we have a wedding present for you.” She held up a huge bottle of champagne, smiled and then the screen turned to snow. _

“I guess now we know why we don’t remember anything,” Remington said jokingly with address to the champagne,

“Mmmmm,” Laura replied and moved out of his embrace,

“What is it Laura?”

“It’s just...do you think they...we,” she nodded to the television, “knew what we were doing? Did we get married as some kind of game - not to back down from a challenge - without thinking it through...or do you think we did it because of the commitment it symbolizes?” she stood and turned off the television.

Remington rose to stand beside her, “I don’t know.” He put his hands in his pockets and looked at his feet while he kicked something invisible, “Now I’m no expert but I don’t think commitment is something you check off on a list." He released his arms and walked up to her while his continued,

"Commitment is an everyday thing. It’s when I get up in the morning and go to work instead of the cinema. It’s when you flew 6000 miles to find me, it’s when I say no to join Daniel for a fast track through Europe.” They looked at each other as Remington continued,

“It’s when you turned down Philip Lydon and I turned down Felicia.”

“You turned down Felicia?” Laura said in surprise

“More than once,” Remington replied and took her in his arms, “and if we ever run into her again you can have the pleasure of informing her of our marital status.” He touched his lips to hers,

“Laura, the real commitment isn’t that we got married but what we choose to do with it.”

“About that….”Laura put her arms around his neck and pulled him down towards her, “I think there is something we  _ do  _ need to check off the list.” And with that she took his hand and let him towards the bedroom.

_ THE END _


End file.
